If you’ve worked in the data center industry for some time, then you’ve most likely heard about the many benefits of raising the room temperature in your facility. If you haven’t, you’ll soon hear about the unnecessary cooling costs that result from data centers over supplying cool air to keep servers with inlet temperatures below 80⁰F.
There are proven benefits of raising the temperatures in the data center to save on energy usage. Most data centers give little attention to a best practice that can influence the effectiveness of turning the thermostat up.
Chatsworth Products’ (CPI) Global Technology Consultant, Ian Seaton, recently told Upsite Technologies that establishing full control over airflow management is crucial. This means that before you do anything with the temperature, you should block any openings in the data center between the supply air area and return air area. These include cable access ports in floor tiles, unused or open rack mount units or any open space between hot and cold aisles.
“With all these holes plugged, the variation in server inlet temperatures throughout the data center should be no more than a range of 5⁰F (2-3⁰ is achievable with discipline and well-engineered products),” Seaton explains.
CPI offers a wide range of well-engineered, top-quality racks and accessories to help you block and control air leakage, including:
- Snap-In Filler Panels - used to fill open rack-mount spaces (U) in cabinets that store rack-mount computer servers and equipment
- KoldLok® Raised Floor Grommets – used to minimize any air loss from unsealed cable openings in access floor environments
- Vertical Exhaust Duct – used to fully isolate return air from the source air, thus eliminating any possible hot air recirculation in the data center
For more information on how to get the most of your energy efficiency efforts, go here.
Raissa Carey, eContent Specialist